Mock TriaL Makes State!

The Grants Pass High School Mock Trial team made grounds at the two-day regional competition in Medford on February 22. 2020, competing against tough schools such as St.Mary’s and Crater High School. Placing second place, Grants Pass High School secured a spot to compete at the state competition in Portland on March 6th and 7th.

Just like in a regular legal trial, Mock Trial teams compete against each other through the argument of a case. Depending on the round, a team is either the “prosecution” or “defense.” Members can be lawyers, witnesses, or even both. Each year, all Mock Trial teams in Oregon are given one specific case to work on all season.

This year, all teams were given a criminal case that deals with manslaughter. Manslaughter, according to the Oxford Dictionary, is “the crime of killing a human being without malice,

aforethought, or otherwise in circumstances not amounting to murder.” The case follows a woman that died in a stampede at a rock concert as a result of an explosion by the pyrotechnics. Mock Trial teams this year are trying to prove or disprove that the defendant manipulated the pyrotechnics purposely for other reasons, such as sabotage.

Mock Trial is an enriching club, which pushes students out of their comfort zone. As Jessica Luaders (junior), a first year Mock Trial team member and a witness for the prosecution puts it: “You have to think quick on your feet and, as a witness, I have been able to not only learn about law, but also explore method-acting.”

As a senior, having been involved in Mock Trial for the past four years, I can say that this club has made such a difference in my life, and in the lives of others. It goes beyond the case, in that it teaches students to not be afraid to share their voice. Additionally, there is nothing that has made myself, nor my team, feel more powerful than strutting into a courtroom with our case in hand, ready to flame our competitors (legally of course).